RADNOR — Heavy rain Friday could not dampen the spirits of graduates and their families at the 171st Villanova University commencement.

The ceremony, held indoors, was both joyful and solemn as the university conferred bachelor’s and post-graduate degrees on 2,700 graduates. Families hugged, snapped pictures and graduates chatted with their friends until strains of “Pomp and Circumstances” filled the Pavilion.

Three honorary doctorates were also bestowed on Upper Darby Summer Stage Founder Harry Dietzler, the Rev. Robert F. Prevost, former prior general of the Augustinian Order, and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden was cheered and received a standing ovation for her keynote address to the graduates. Biden offered them down-to-earth advice for living their lives. She told them to remember that “everybody struggles, a little act of kindness can make a huge difference and have the confidence to stay true to your goals.”

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To that Biden added, “Show your heart to the world.”

Biden told the graduates that she grew up in Willow Grove, one of five daughters, and remembered a Philadelphia childhood of rooting for the Phillies, crossing the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge every weekend to visit her grandparents in New Jersey and watching the Mummers Parade. She knew she wanted a career, a marriage and maybe children. In the course of her life, President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated. She witnessed the counterculture, the Vietnam War and the start of the environmental movement, she said.

While teaching and raising three young children, Biden commuted from Delaware “before the Blue Route” to Villanova to earn a master’s degree in English in 1991, one of two that she holds, along with a doctorate in education from the University of Delaware. She continues to teach English at a community college in Virginia and is an advocate for community colleges.

“I learned that growing up sometimes takes stepping up,” she said. The graduates have also experienced major changes in their lives, they’ve heard warnings about global warming and seen revolutions for democracy around the world “spurred by social media,” she said.

Biden commended the members of the military who were graduating, generating applause. She is the mother of Beau Biden, Delaware Attorney General and a major in the Delaware Army National Guard. With First Lady Michelle Obama, Biden formed the organization Joining Forces to help military families and wrote a children’s book, “Don’t Forget, Gold Bless our Troops.”

When Beau Biden was sent to Iraq, she said, members of her church, friends and acquaintances supported her family through acts of kindness.

“That was a very tough year for our entire family,” she said. “A neighbor shoveled the sidewalks. Friends brought meals.”

Biden asked the graduates to commit to their own acts of kindness “as we wind down the war in Afghanistan and our troops return home.”

“Acts of kindness, stacked up day after day, over a lifetime, can make all the difference,” she said.

Biden told stories of the lives of some of her students to highlight examples of believing in yourself through adversity. One student fled domestic violence and was homeless. That woman persevered and is now studying for a degree in accounting. Another student was one of the “Lost Boys” who fled war in Sudan to live in the United States and persisted to complete his education.

Graduate Nina Rizk also addressed her peers, looking toward the future, she told them that “Villanova has provided us with the knowledge and insight to take on these challenges, regardless of where we will be and who we will become. There is an unbreakable bond. We are Villanovans forever and always.”

Before the ceremony, Victoria Niche, 21, of Wilton, Conn. said, “It hasn’t hit me yet. I think it will hit me in the fall when everyone else goes back to Villanova.” An economics major, she will be working as a financial analyst.

South Jersey native Courtney Curran, 22, said that she was excited. A biology major, she’s applying to medical school.

“Go team,” said Brendan Farrell, 22, an English major from Phoenixville, when asked to comment.

Communications major Sara Moya, 21, of Denver, Colo. said, “It is an honor to be among such wonderful and talented individuals. I’m glad we came so far.”

“I’m excited,” said Melissa Hoksch, 22, who hails from Okinawa, Japan, explaining she was in a military family. “I wish the weather was better,” said Hoksch, who majored in math and classical languages. “I’m a little scared [but] it’ll be good.”

“It goes by so fast,” said Michael Schoen, 22, a political science major from Harleysville. “I’m really excited. It’s bittersweet. It’s been a great time.”